


Out in the open

by journeythroughtherain



Series: Winteriron Week 2019 [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Getting Together, Identity Porn, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining Bucky Barnes, Pre-Slash, Secret Identity, like half of the fic is literally one long love confession to tony stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-29 00:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20072869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journeythroughtherain/pseuds/journeythroughtherain
Summary: Being in love with two people at once is not easy, just ask Bucky Barnes. Luckily for him, the two people he's in love with have a bit more in common than he first thought.For day 6 of Winteriron Week.





	Out in the open

**Author's Note:**

> For day 6 of Winteriron Week:  
_Identity Porn / “You should shut up now.” / Proof that Tony Stark has a Heart:_
> 
> Doubles as fills for the following bingo squares:  
TSB T2 - Identity Porn  
BBB Y5 - Tony Stark/Iron Man

Bucky feels unreasonably nervous as he follows Tony down to the lab. It's nothing he hasn't done before, hell, he's visited plenty of times and not all of them related to some tech issue either. He usually loves hanging out with Tony(loves _Tony_ too, but the man himself doesn't know that), so why this time has him jumping out of his skin with nerves he has no idea.

Or, well, he might have _some_ idea, but he doesn't like thinking about that one for too long; more than a few minutes, and jumping out of the window in embarrassment start to look way too tempting. 

Bucky _really_ hopes this isn't about his accidental almost-confession to Tony's bodyguard that he'd stumbled through and then tried to cover up last night. Iron Man didn't seem to have taken it to mean anything other than Bucky being tired enough to be more open than usual about his feelings, but then again one could never really be sure what Iron Man thought at any time. Might be he went straight down to Tony after to tell him about it all, and now Bucky was about to get a talking to about ill-advised fraternization, or harassment in the workplace, or maybe he'll just be told to stay away from Iron Man forever outside missions.

Whatever it is must be important though, because Tony seems unusually serious—no banter, no jokes, no talking at all, in fact—as he leads the way down the hallway.

So yeah. Bucky is _nervous_.

-

"I'm Iron Man."

"You're... You're Iron Man?" 

Tony is Iron Man? Iron Man is Tony? Bucky knows he should probably feel betrayed or insulted that Tony has kept this a secret from the team—from him—for as long as he has, but honestly he can't feel anything right now past the rush of relief at the confession. "Oh thank god."

He collapses into a chair, feeling suddenly tired at the tension leaving his body.

"Wait, what? You're happy about this?" Tony says, sounding bewildered. "I thought… I thought you'd be disappointed, that Iron Man wasn't who you thought he was."

He scrunches his brow in confusion, and Bucky really needs to stop thinking about how cute that is before he says something stupid.

"I'm just so happy I don't have to feel bad about falling in love with two people and not being able to choose between them anymore."

Like that. Oops. 

Tony looks at him, gobsmacked, and Bucky hurries to explain himself. Maybe he can still salvage this somehow.

"I mean, Iron Man is just so cool and galant, you know? And he is so funny and sarcastic and not afraid to stand up to anyone, and didn't treat me any differently than the rest when even Steve still walks on eggshells around me sometimes. And watching him fight is just so amazing, he looks like he dances through the sky, it's _beautiful_. And the way we can just talk freely, and he'll _laugh_ at all my morbid jokes, making me feel a little bit less broken. How I feel I could tell him anything, and he wouldn't judge.

"And then there's Tony, smart as a whip, sarcastic as hell but also so sweet and caring. The first time we met you invited me down here and asked if I was okay, if I needed anything, even after you knew what I've done. I've never felt safer than when I'm in your hands, and at your mercy, down here. You make me feel like I can belong. You do so much for the team, more than they know, but I know you work harder than any of them to keep the Avengers up and running. 

“Even when they criticise you, you still do your best. You're so generous, more than anyone I've ever met. Steve keeps saying he doesn't believe you'd ever be willing to fight and risk your life as we do, but you _do_. And even if you weren't Iron Man, I don't know why he'd need any more proof that your heart is bigger than all of ours combined, than just looking at you and all you've done."

"I think you should shut up now."

Bucky whips his head up to look at Tony, fearing the worst— but Tony is _smiling_, even if his eyes are shimmering a little. "What?"

"I said, I think you should shut up now," Tony repeats, "because it's going to be really hard to kiss you if you keep talking."


End file.
